The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-04-07

The loSti n Few OF them are SalH- |
cred into our Sabbath schools; but what |
about the 10000 destitute children OF New |
York and the score of thousands of destitute |
children of Brooklyn around whom are thrown |
no benign and heavenly and Christian iEfiu
ences? 1t is tremendous question, what is
to become of the destitute children of these
cities? We must either act on them or they
will act on us. We viii either Christianize
them or they will heathenize us. 1t is o ques-
ton not more for the Christian than for the
and the statesman. On, il we
could have all these suffering little ones
gathered together, what scene of hunger
and wretchedness and rags and sin and
trouble and darlnessl If we could see those
little feet on the broad road to death, which
through Christian charity ought to be press
ing the narrow path of life; if we could hear
those voices in blasphemy, which ought TO be
singing the praises of God; if we could see
those little hearts, which at that age ought
not to be soiled with one unclean thought, be
coming the sewers for every abonination; Ii
we could see those suffering little ones sacrl-
feed on the altar Of every iniquitous passion
and baptized with fire from the lava of the
pit we would recoil, crying out: 'Avaunt,
thou dream of helli' They are not always
going to be children. They are coming up to be
the men and women of this country. Thatspark
of iniquity that might now be put out with
one drop of the water Of life will become the
confagIation of every green thing that God
ever planted in the soul. That which ought
to have been a temple Of the Holy Ghost will
become SCARED and blistered ruin-every
light quenched aud every altar i'll the dust.
That petty thief, who sips into your store
and takes yard of cloth from your counter,
will become the highwayman of the Forest OR
the burglar at midnight, picking the lock Of
your money safe and blowing up your store
to hide the villainy A great army, with
staggering step, and bloodshot eye, and
drunken boot, they are coming on-gathering
recruits from every grog shop and den OF
infamy i'll the land-to take the ballot box
and Eurrah at the elections. The hard
knuckled fist Of rutfianism will have more
power than the gentle hand of intelligence
and sobriety. Men, bIoated, and with the
signature of sin burned in from the top of the
forehead TO the bottom of the chin, viii look
honest men out of countenance. Moral
corpses, which ought to be buried 100 feet
deep to keep them from poisoning the air,
will rot in the face of the sun at monday. In
dustry in her plain frock will be unappreci-
ated, while thousands of men will wander
around III idleness, with their hands on their
hips, saying: "The world owes us a living"
o, what tremendous power there is in in
iquity when uneducated. and unrestrained
and unblanched it goes on concentrating, and
deepening, and widening and gathering mo-
mentum until it swings ahead with very
triumph of desolation, drowning like surges,
scorching like flames, crushing like rocksl
What are you going to do with this aban-
doned population of the streets! VIII you
gather them in your churches. 1t Is
not the will of your Heavenly Father
that one of these little ones should
perish If you have ten respectable
children in your class, gather in ten that are
not respectable. If in your Bible class there
be twenty young men who have come from
Christian homes and elegant surroundings,
let those twenty young men go out and
gather in twenty more of the young men of
the city who are lost to God and lost to So
ciety. This outside population, unless edu-
Gated and restrained, viii work terror in ages
that are to come Years ago at New Orleans,
when the cholera was raging fearfully, Il
steamboat put out just before nightfal
crowded with passengers who were trying to
escape from the pestilence. After the boat
had been out a little while the engineer fell
with the cholera. The captain in consterna-
ton went down among the passengers and
asked. as there any one here who knows
anything about engineering" A swarthy
man replied: II am an engineer" "Well,"
said the captain, 81 would be very glad il
you would take charge of this boat" The
man went to the engine. The steamer moved
more rapidly until after while the captain
and some passengers were alarmed and they
went to see what was the matter, and they
Al. ~
he was seated on the safety valve; and as they
came to him, he said: II am commissioned Of
satan to drive this steamer to hell" and he
flourished his pistol, and would not come
down. But after while, through some
stratagem he was brought from his position,
and the lives of the passengers were saved.
Oh! my friends, that steamer had no such
peril as our institutions are threatened with
if the ignorant and unrestrained children Of
this land shall come up in their ignorance and
their crime to engineer our civil and religious
institutions, and drive them On the rocks
Educate this abandoned population, or they
will overthrow the institutions of this land
Gather them into your Sabbath schools.
congratulate you that many have been gath
cred Go forth, teachers, in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. and on the coming Sab
baths may there be found gathered scores
and hundreds of these wanderers, and instead
of 800 in the Sabbath school, we shall see
5000 or 1900, and the grace of God viii come
down upon them, and the Holy Spirit will
bring them all into the truth.
Another characteristic of q live church is
one with appropriate architecture. In the
far west and amid destitute population, a log
church is very appropriate-the people living
in log houses. But in communities where
people live in comfortable abodes church
uncommodious or lacking i'll beauty is a
moral nuisance. Because Christ was born i'll
a manger is no reason why we should wor-
ship him in a barn. Let the churches of
Jesus Christ be not only comfortable, but
ornate Years ago we resolved to have a
comfortable church. We resolved that it
should be amphitheatrieal in shape. The
prominent architects of the country, after
| figuring on the matter good while, said thai
such q church would not be churchly, and
| they would have nothing to do with the en-
! terprse But after a while we found an
architect willing to risk his reputation. He
put up for us the first tabernacle, in amphi-
theatrical style. We liked it. All who came
liked it. This building followed in the same
style. We believe it is appropriate and
adapted An angular church will have an
CNH'A0
Christ ought to be a great family
circle, the pulpit only the fireplace,
around which they are gathered in sweet and
domestic communion. But when our first
tabernacle went up, o, the caricature and the
scolfingl They said: Its a hippodrome!
It's a holy circus It's Talmage's theatre!"
But the Lord came down with power upon
that old building, and made it the gate of
heaven to great many. And this building
followed. 1hat we were right i'll persisting
in the style OF architecture is proved by the
fact that now there ara sixty or seventy
churches in the United States in the same
style. Indeed, our tabernacle has revolution
ized church architecture in this country. \
live church must have onm1dious, a com
Portable, all adapted building. How amiable
are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hostsl l
would rather be doorkeeper in the house OF
my God than to dwell in the tents Of wicked
ness"
Again, tue characteristic of a live church
SIS